Improvement in postage or revenue stamps



UNITED STATE PATENT CFFICE.

WILLIAM W. BIERCE,;OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR OF; ONE-HALF OF HIS RIGHT TO JOHN G. SPENCER, OF NEW YORK CITY.

IMPROVEMENT IN POSTAGE OR REVENUE STAMPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 192,968,

dated July 10, 1877; application filed June 26,

1876; patentedin Canada, October 30, 1876; patented in- England, October 26, 1876; patented in France,

January 8, 1877.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. BIEROE, of Memphis, in the county of Shelby and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improved Postage or Revenue Stamp,

of which the following is a specification The object of this invention is to produce a stamp adapted for postal and revenue purposes which can be canceled readily, and so efl'ectively that it cannot be restored and reused.

The invention consists in a paper stamp, a portion of the face of which (preferably the center) is raised above its contiguous parts, and is either wholly or partially surrounded with perforations.

In the drawing which accompanies this specification, Figure l is a plan view of the face of the stamp. Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the center of the same.

A represents the raised central portion, surrounded with perforations or indentations B B.

The stamps may be printed in sheets from engraved plates, in appropriate designs and colors, and the embossing or raising of the portion of the face of the stamp may be accomplished at the same time. The perforations or indentations surrounding the raised portion may also be formed at the time of printing by having a series of dies engraved in the plate in the form desired for the perforations or indentations. The paper of the stamp will, by the operation of printing, be perforated or indented, as desired, and consequently weakened. v

The backs of the printed sheets of stamps may be entirely covered with mucilage, in the usual way. If, however, it is desired that that portion of the back of the stamps which corresponds to the raised portion of the face thereof should be rendered non-adhesive, a form or shield can be used which will protect such portions of the backs of the sheets at the time the mucilage is applied.

Stamps thus prepared may be applied to letters, envelopes, or other packages, in the same manner as those in common use.

The advantages claimed for stamps of this construction are twofold. First, when such stamps are canceled, in the usual manner, by stamping them with ink, either by hand or by machinery, the cancellation-mark cannot be obliterated by washing, or by the use of chemicals assisted by washing and rubbing, as is the case to a large extent with the stamps now in use, without defacing the stamp to such a degree that it will be readily detected. This results from the fact that a material portion of the stamp is raised and provided with perforations or indentations, by which the substance of the paper is weakened, so that any attempt to so wash or rub the surface of the face of the stamp as would be necessary to eflace the cancellation-mark would, by contact with the edge of the raised surface, cause it to be wholly or parlially brgken away from the main body of the stamp, and render it unavailable for a second use; and also from the further fact that, as the fiber of the paper is cut or broken by the perforations or in dentations, the ink used in cancellation will become, by capillary attraction and otherwise, more pe lf ectly incorporated with the substance of the stampia'nd, consequently, will be more difficult of erasure than would be the case were the cancellation-mark placed directly upon the finished face of the stamp, as is generally done. Second, such stamps can be rapidly and effectively canceled without the use of ink. This can be conveniently accomplished by the use of a brush made of stiff bristles or small wire, the ends of which are cut off square. By passing such a brush rapidly and under gentle pressure over the face of the stamp, the central portion, by reason of its elevation and its surrounding perforations or indentations, will be torn up from the body of the stamp, and generallybe carried entirely away by the. brush. The thorough cancellation of the stamps will be greatly facilitated if the raised and perforated portions are unprovided with mucilage, and, consequently, not united to theenvelope on which the stamps are fixed.

This plan of cancellation will be found conthereof, and is surrounded with perforations, venient and effective in all small post-offices,- substantially as and for the purpose dein which cancellation by machinery is out of scribed. the question.

What is claimed as new is- A postage-stamp a portion of the face of which is raised above the contiguous parts WILLIAM W. BIEBOE.

Witnesses:

ROBERT H. DUNoAN, Tnos. P. How. 

